Comments on: Why Microsoft’s ribbon sucks

By: Sean Ellis

Sean Ellis — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:43:21 +0000

Well, we’ve just been forcibly upgraded at work, and I’m installing OpenOffice 3.0 because it will be far easier to use than the new ribbon interface.

Every short cut, every way I work has been disrupted by this ribbon interface. I would have no trouble if MS had made the classic menus an option, but they didn’t. And I’m not going to be throwing good money after bad buying add-ins that almost-but-not-quite make it look like 2003 again, from companies I’ve never heard of.

Saikey has succinctly put into words what I was trying to put my finger on - “I CAN READ [...] I can NOT quickly determine the subtle differences between two nearly identical pictures in the ribbon.”

By: PD

PD — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:08:10 +0000

Can’t stand the ribbon. I’ve been struggling with it for the last couple of months. I’m constantly looking for the same commands over and over again.
Apparently, Microsoft is aware of people’s complaints. Here’s a page that shows where the commands are in 2007 compared to 2003: http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT100766331033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA100744321033.

What would have been the harm in allowing users the choice, ribbon or menu?

By: R.Subach

R.Subach — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:09:40 +0000

I HATE THE RIBBON. It’s just awful. I’m losing a lot of visual space, especially on a laptop. They have to fix this.

By: JS

JS — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:59:57 +0000

I just got back from PDC, and while I’m excited about much of what Windows 7 has to offer–it has some real improvements over Vista–one thing I’m not excited about is that infernal Ribbon is making inroads into the built-in Windows applications. Sigh…

By: lm

lm — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:21:58 +0000

This new interface for Excel is ridiculous. I’ve been using it for two months and I’m still struggling to be productive. Power users will suffer. Newbies will love it.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see what the users in the MS Redmond office are saying.

Probably:

“This ribbon is a piece of crap… How does Bill expect me to get the reports/analysis done in the same amount of time…I can’t believe the public is buying this… how can I buy the third party interface program and get it through purchasing…”

By: TBone

TBone — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:17:26 +0000

I would encourage those having trouble adapting to watch this video below. It explains how they came up with this design.

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx

I also have some general questions. How long did it take you to learn to use Office pre-2007? How long does it take you to learn to use any software for a computer?

By: saikey

saikey — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:23:29 +0000

So I generally agree.
For me the biggest problem with the ribbon is that everything is iconic. I have never used the toolbar in any application. And I consistently throwaway apps that only let me do any given function in the toolbar.
I CAN READ. Give me back my menus. I can NOT quickly determine the subtle differences between two nearly identical pictures in the ribbon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:10:27 +0000

I kinda like the ribbon in Word but it sucks really bad in Excel. It’s far easier to scan 1 block of little buttons than 10 tabs of huge icons. Classic Menu plugin to the rescue! And wtf is up with the docx xlsx formats….then saying all the “old” formats will kill functionality…yeah right!

By: OSIRIS

OSIRIS — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:28:00 +0000

Stefanie et al:
You might want to check out http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/03/17.html for the reasons why the ribbon made its appearance. What puzzles, however, is why Microsoft don’t provide a toggle to turn the ribbon / classic menus on or off.
I used Office 2007 for 3 months and gave up - and downgraded to Office 2003 - which does what I want exactly as I want it to. Oh - and this was on a PC that came with Vista / Office 2007, and which I had downgraded back to XP.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:04:00 +0000

I completely agree. I have to use Office 2007 because my college upgraded to it. My college is 100% online, so everything I do is submittted with some type of Office program.

On 2003 it used to take me no time at all to do assignments. Sometimes I used keyboard shortcuts or used the menus. Either way it was fast and efficient.

Yesterday I turned in a report that took me forever to do because I had to keep switching from one ribbon to another to find what I needed. On 2003, pretty much everything I needed was on the menu bard. One click away. Now I have to search to get things done.

I just had to take that report and turn it into a power point presentation. I must say that now I am extremely disappointed. I can't do the same animations that I could on 2003. Why did they take the animations away????

I can't wait until I graduate because then I am going back to the better program, Office 2003.

I wish someone would please tell me why Microsoft has suddenly decided to downgrade themselves so far with Office 2007 and Windows Vista. They are by far extreme downgrades from Office 2003 and Windows XP. EXTREME DOWNGRADES!!!!!!

---Stefanie Cawley